Selling at a Flea Market

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Flea Market

We had a bunch of leftovers from our giant yard sale a few weeks ago, so we decided to take them out to the flea market Saturday. This was a new experience for us, so my husband and I were both curious to see how we’d do. Here’s the scoop on how that went, along with some tips for first-timers.

Before we went, we talked to a friend that sells at the flea market regularly, and he recommended going by Friday to reserve a booth. That turned out to be really good advice because when we stopped by around noon, we snagged the last spot. Phew! Booths were $10 each or $15 for a double. We opted for a double, since we had a TON of stuff to sell.

This particular flea market officially opens at 8 a.m. on Saturdays, but after talking to our friend and the owner of the market, we learned that a group of buyers comes through at 7 a.m. to snap up deals before the regular customers get there. Knowing that, we started setting up our booth at 6:30 a.m. And sure enough, we had buyers shopping from our trailer before we had it unloaded.

Since I’ve found that things sell better when they’re displayed on tables, we borrowed six folding tables from our friend. Toys and stuffed animals went on a tarp, where they’d be easy for kids to look at.

We put our best items up front to draw people into our booth, and replaced them with new items when they sold.

Because we were focused on making money, we brought our lunch and plenty of drinks from home. We also brought sunscreen, hats, chairs, toilet paper and hand sanitizer. (They had fully-stocked port-a-potties on site, but it’s just nice to know you’ll be covered if they run out of something).

The weather was gorgeous, and it brought a big crowd out to the flea market, so we kept our booth open until 2:30 (I originally expected to be done by noon). Staying open later proved to be a good move because we sold our biggest items (a set of tires) at the end of the day.

All told we made $250, after subtracting out our booth fee. And really I think that’s a pretty good day, especially considering we were selling yard sale leftovers. I think we could make a lot more if we were to buy items specifically for resale (which is what our friend does).

We’ll definitely do this again from time to time. It was a lot of fun, a good way to clear some space in the garage, and it brought us a step closer to covering my daughter’s summer camp tuition.

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